Archive for July, 2008

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Ngorongoro Crater is hailed by some as the eighth wonder of the world. That might be a bit of an overstatement, but after almost 10 days of safari so far, it certainly offered a unique backdrop and fantastic setting for viewing Africa’s big game.

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Between our experiences in the Mara and yesterdays sightings in Lake Manyara, we had seen almost everything that we could have hoped to see. Our big hope was to see the wildebeest migration. We didn’t time the river crossing very well and it seems that the herd had already moved north out of the park. Fortunately, the other 2 on tour with us were open to finding them and our guide chatted with other guides and eventually found them for us. They weren’t in the water, but there were TONS of them! It was excellent! Our most excellent group:

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After a day of internet and chilling (mostly safely within the confines of the Wildebeest Camp), we jumpped on a shuttle to Arusha, Tanzania. From there we arranged another Safari. The Safari in Kenya had not dissappointed, and it certainly left us ready for more, and what better place to go than perhaps the most well-known game park in the world: The Serengeti. In addition, our 5-day Tanzanian safari started at a beautiful lakeside reserve called Lake Manyara (and ended at the “eighth wonder of the world”, Ngorongoro crater). (more…)

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Last night was the first time that either Jason or I had to bribe a
police officer. The manager at our hotel suggested a taxi to avoid scams if we were at dinner/out after dark. So, we took a taxi, like we had done before. We were pulled over by a police baracade and “arrested” for “refusing to wear our seatbelt”. You should know here that our driver wasn’t wearing one, and in the past week, noone had mentioned a seatbelt law. After 10 minutes of discussions with 2 very aggressive police officers, we finally got away for 1300 shillings (around $20) - although they started the bidding at 10000 shillings each. We met some people today who were hit by the same corrupt police for about $70. We also learned that the “fine” for the new law is 100 shillings (about $1.50). We thought about whether or not we should have insisted on them “arresting” us, but you never really know what kind of situation that could have gotten us into. Most likely, they would have let us go, but perhaps they would have slapped other violations on us, such as resisting arrest or badgering an officer, or who knows what else. It was definitely a scary experience, especially since we were dealing with real policemen and not some common street thugs. But, our book had prepared us for such a situation, so we were able to remain reasonably calm and made it through with $20 less, but one more story…

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We made arrangements with Kenia Tours for a 5-day Safari that included two days at Lake Nakuru and three days at the Masai Mara, “one of the seven wonders of the world”, as we’d been told over and over. Lynette had been wanting to do this since she was a kid, and I have to admit, I was really excited as well. The East African Safari is certainly one of our trip’s highlights and we drove out of Nairobi with high hopes, and we weren’t disappointed.